Required Texts:

• de Stael, Mme. Corinne, Or Italy. Trans. and ed. Sylvia Raphael. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998.
• Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Faust. Trans. Walter Arndt. Ed. Cyrus Hamlin. 2^nd ed. New York: Norton, 2000.
• Rietbergen, Peter. Europe: A Cultural History. 2^nd ed. New York: Routledge, 1998.
• Coursepacket, available at the SUB Copy Centre in early September

Assignments:

• Four Responses (10% each; 40% total): 600-750 words each, various duedates (see below).
• Attendance and Participation (10%)
• Essay (30%): 1800-2000 words, due November 5^th
• Quizzes (10% each, 45 minutes in class): October 22^nd and November 26^th

Assignment Details:

Responses:

   During the course of the term (for any class from September 24^th to November 26^th, except November 12^th), you will write four or five responses to primary materials for the class, that is, visual and textual works (literature, philosophy, history, etc.) from the pre-1900 era (i.e., no Rietbergen for these assignments). Each response should analyze one of the week’s assigned primary materials; you may, for instance, either compare it to earlier assigned works or contextualize it via Rietbergen or focus on an aspect of the work itself. Responses are due at the start of the class for which the material has been assigned. Late responses will not normally be accepted, and each student may only submit one response per week.

    Each response must be 600-750 words and be fully documented (even if you only cite the work on which you are writing the response). Each response is worth 10%, for a total of 40%. You may, if you wish, write five responses; if you do so, only the best four grades will count towards your final grade. If you write less than four, you will get a zero for any missing responses.

    This assignment gives you a great deal of flexibility in choosing from a wide range of works and nine dates on which you’ll submit responses, but you should take care to pace yourself: don’t leave all four to November, when you’ll be busy with other assignments.

Essay:

Your essay should be fully and properly documented, and develop a focussed argument on one of the topics below through a detailed discussion of class material according to one of the following options (i.e., you will have to select one choice from each of the two categories--1A, 2B, 1D, and so forth).

Text options:

1. a complete edition of one long pre-1900 work read in excerpt or in full for the class: Odyssey, Metamorphoses, Inferno or Paradiso from Divine Comedy, Lais, Book of the Courtier, The Prince, Don Quixote, View of the Present State of Ireland, Gulliver’s Travels, Dangerous Liaisons, Faust, or Corinne.
2. compare 3-4 assigned pre-1910 works across a span of time (at least 50 years).

        Essay topics:

A. Discuss ideas of the model citizen.
B. Discuss ideas of religion’s role in society and/or culture.
C. Discuss ideas of origin (e.g., origin of the nation, origin of the world, origin of culture).
D. Discuss ideas of social threat or failure.

You may, but are not required to, use secondary research. Please note as well that the above text options outline manageable amounts of material on which your essay will focus; you are free to refer briefly to any other material from the class, as your argument requires. You are all encouraged to discuss your essays with me.  Essays are due at the start of class on November 5th; late penalties of 5% per day, including weekends, will be applied to essays not submitted then.  Essays will not normally be accepted more than one week late.

Attendance and Participation:

Attendance will be taken at the start of each class.   The grade will be calculated as follows:  number of classes attended divided by 10, and multiplied by .7 if you were an occasional contributor to class discussion, .85 if you were a regular contributor, and 1.0 if you were a frequent contributor.   Contributions to class discussion may include questions, comments, responses to other students' remarks, etc., but always constructive and generous to your classmates.  Since there are twelve classes, this calculation already allows for sick days and other pressing reasons for missing class.   If serious circumstances require you to miss more than two classes, please provide me with documentation and I will alter the calculation of your grade accordingly.  I will also alter the calculation for everyone if, for instance, a class is cancelled.

Quizzes:

These will be in-class tests on assigned readings, with an emphasis on short-answer questions that test your understanding of the material.

 

General Guidelines & Policies

Course webpage:

The course webpage is <http://myweb.dal.ca/jl441155/Euro2100X-2008.htm>. Students are required to check the course webpage regularly. Any changes to our normal routine--such as extended office hours around the time that essays are due or cancellation of class in the event of severe weather--will be announced there.

On Lateness:

In the event of significant extenuating circumstances that materially affect your ability to complete coursework, notify me as soon as possible over e-mail and quickly provide the proper documentation (e.g., a medical note that indicates you were unwell for the relevant period of time). I will provide alternate duedates for the essay and/or a make-up time for a quiz, as required. Please note that it is your responsibility to notify me promptly, to provide the proper documentation, and to complete the work by or on the new date(s) provided.

If you have to submit your essay late, you should a) drop it off in my essay drop-off box (see the metal set of drop-off boxes on the first floor of the McCain building, immediately to your right at the top of the righthand set of stairs in the main entrance); b) e-mail me right away to let me know that it is there, so that I can note the date it was received as soon as possible in order to minimize late penalties (5%/day).

Grade equivalents:

A+: 90-100%	B+: 77-79%	C+: 67-69%	D: 50-59%
A: 85-89%	B: 73-76%	C: 63-66%	F: 0-49%
A-: 80-84%	B-: 70-72%	C-: 60-62%

Essay-writing and Compliance with University Policies: If you have any questions or concerns as you work on your essays or responses, please drop by during my office hours or e-mail me.  Remember:   I would rather answer an e-mail than mark an error.

All assignments must be fully and properly documented in accordance with MLA or Chicago or APA style and the principles of intellectual honesty to comply with university policies (and be generally ethical). This means that

a) every source on which you draw must be fully and properly documented (page references and full bibliographical information), including webpages, editor’s notes, textbook introductions, students’ comments outside of class, and any other printed materials (books, articles, and so forth);

b) all quotations must be placed within quotation marks and followed by a reference that indicates the source and the page(s) or line(s) being quoted.  Note: If you change two words of eight, then six need to be in quotation marks.

Note: There is no minimum length for quotations–even one- and two-word quotations are not unusual in a properly documented paper.  Assigned readings are not exempt:  all sources must be documented.

Paraphrase should generally be avoided. Do not waste your time altering a few words: it is always best to quote directly and fully. In general, paraphrase should only be used to condense significant amounts of material (for instance, to summarize two pages in a sentence); moreover, paraphrases must always be clearly identified as such and followed by the appropriate reference to indicate the source and pages used. Changing a few words does not in any way diminish your responsibility to acknowledge your source and the words you have taken from it through quotation marks, a page reference and a bibliographical citation.

Make and keep a copy of the work that you submit, especially if you do not give it directly to me, as well as save your file (see University Policies, below). Each page should have 2.5cm (1") margins on all sides, be double-spaced throughout, and include page numbers in the upper-righthand corner. A single staple is the preferred binding.

Important Notes & University Policies:

Students with disabilities should register as quickly as possible at Student Accessibility Services if they want to receive academic accommodations. To do so please phone 494-2836, e-mail <disabilities@dal.ca>, or drop in at the Killam, G28.

Dalhousie University subscribes to Turnitin.com, a computer based service which checks for originality in submitted papers. Any paper submitted by a student at Dalhousie University may be checked for originality to confirm that the student has not plagiarised from other sources. Plagiarism is considered a serious academic offence which may lead to loss of credit, suspension or expulsion from the University, or even the revocation of a degree. It is essential that there be correct attribution of authorities from which facts and opinions have been derived. At Dalhousie there are University Regulations which deal with plagiarism and, prior to submitting any paper in a course, students should read the Policy on Intellectual Honesty contained in the Calendar or on the On-line Dalhousie website. The Senate has affirmed the right of any instructor to require that student papers be submitted in both written and computer readable format, and to submit any paper to a check such as that performed by Turnitin.com. As a student in this class, you are to keep an electronic copy of any paper you submit, and the course instructor may require you to submit that electronic copy on demand. Copies of student papers checked by this process will be retained by Turnitin.com. (Memo from Vice President Academic and Provost, August 7, 2002)

All students in this class are to read and understand the policies on plagiarism and academic honesty referenced in the Policies and Student Resources sections of the plagiarism.dal.ca website. Ignorance of such policies is no excuse for violations.